3/02/2014

University of Western Sydney staff to go on strike

Hundreds of students at the University of Western Sydney will be affected by staff strikes today.

The National Tertiary Education Union is starting a campaign of rolling stoppages at the university's six campuses.

The action follows the breakdown of negotiations between UWS management and staff over a new enterprise agreement.

The union's UWS branch president, Jan Falloon, says students will be displaced during the one-hour stoppage at midday, but with good reason.

"It will have a minimal impact on classes. There will be some classes disrupted however we're much more concerned over the long-term impact of the situation at the university on our students," she said.

"Those students that have been at the university for a while are aware that their class sizes are getting bigger and bigger, that it's getting far more difficult for them to access staff members."

UWS has released a statement saying it expected the disruption from the industrial action to be minimal.

"All UWS campuses are open and it will be business as usual at the university," the statement said.

"All classes will be held as scheduled, unless lecturers or tutors have directly advised students that they will be participating in this industrial action.

"The decision to pursue industrial action was made by a small number of the university's staff community, with the vast majority of staff not participating in industrial action. Only NTEU members are eligible to take protected industrial action.

"The University is deeply disappointed that the NTEU have decided to continue industrial action that could disrupt student learning and university operations, and unfairly target the University’s more than 40,000 students."